>> brian: mike tyson sits down with us for a half hour on monday of the you can see him in washington saturday and sunday. >> steve: see you martha: all right. we've got new developments on the boston bombing suspect. just this morning dzhokhar tsarnaev was moved from a hospital room to a federal prison facility in massachusetts. we're told he will continue to receive medical care there while he awaits trial for the blast that killed three people and injured more than 270 others at the boston marathon. welcome, everybody. good morning. i'm martha maccallum here in "america's newsroom.". >> i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. his transfer is coming after we learn more about the secretary record attack that thankfully never came to be. dzhokhar tsarnaev telling investigators he and his brother made a spontaneous decision continue to killing americans planning to drive to new york in a car packed

with explosives and detonating them in times square. here is new york city mayor michael bloomberg reacting. >> the investments that we made in counterterrorism operations technology and intelligence helped reduced possibility of a successful terrorist strike but they certainly do not eliminate it. nothing can do that. we don't know if we would have been able to stop the terrorists had they arrived here from boston. we're thankful we didn't have to find out that answer. martha: that's for sure. molly line joins us live from boston. so, molly, what can you tell us about the details of this new york plan? >> reporter: yeah, well a lot of the information coming out of that press conference in new york city yesterday and essentially the details that these two suspects didn't have much of a plan. this was something come up with on the fly. described as spontaneous, sort of in the moment plan for what they were going to do next as they were leaving the cambridge area. that is according to fbi officials that have been briefing the new york

officials giving them some insight the suspect here previously in the hospital. now of course has been moved. he had been telling investigators that the plan was to use the explosives they still had in their possession, the five pipe bombs and pressure cooker bomb similar to the one used in the boston marathon explosion. new york police commissioner ray kelley says the suspects were also familiar with times square. >> we know that dzhokar was photographed in times square with friends on or before april 18th of i was in the city again in 2012. we don't know if those visits were related to the brothers spontaneous decision to target times square. >> reporter: we know the brothers never made it out of massachusetts. they're accused of trying to hijack a victim who was able to escape and contact authorities. after a brief car chase one

was detained and the other was killed. martha. martha: that man's story is emerging this morning and it is incredible. molly, with regard to the new york potential hit do the authorities think these suspects might have been able to pull it off? >> reporter: well there are thoughts are despite the immense police presence there and many, many cameras there is no way of telling that it wouldn't have happened. in fact very well might have. despite all of the things that are put in place to prevent something like this with no prior warning there is could have been death and destruction. they have no way of knowing whether it could have been prevented. martha? martha: pressure cooker bomb, the type used in boston and six pipe bombs they had with them no doubt could have done damage had they set them off. molly, thank you very much. we'll see you later. >> reporter: thank you. gregg: we're learning that 16 hours after investigators began interrogating dzhokhar tsarnaev, the suspect suddenly went silent. his interrogation was cut short when a magistrate

judge and a u.s. attorney showed up at the hospital and then read him his miranda rights. the and now some lawmakers are very concerned that important intel may be lost. >> yes, we're trying to play like there is no war when there is and it is going to bite us. and i blame the administration for not having situational awareness and writing this off as to knock off jihadists. bin laden may be dead but radical islam is alive and well and this administration let their guard down. >> fact that it was apparently cut short at 16 hours, means there is awful lot of information that could have been obtained, if the fbi is getting as much information as public reports say they got during the first 16 hours, we can only imagine what they would have gotten. this is one-third of the 48 hours. so they still had 2/3 of the interrogation to go. generally once these things start and once information starts coming it comes more rapidly. gregg: before advised of his rights the 19-year-old

suspect told authorities his older brother only recently recruited him to be part of the boston attack. you just heard from congressman peter king on the homeland security committee. he is our guest in the next hour. martha: an iranian scientist who was held for months by the united states has now been released we're learning and is now in oman. according to media reports from iran the man is assistant professor of electrical engineering. he was detain after arriving on a flight in los angeles back in 2011. he is accused of buying advanced equipment in violation of u.s. sanctions against iran. no other details on the circumstances of his release. gregg: in syria, civil war, a red line may have been crossed. the white house now confirming that the region game has used chemical weapons against opposition forces. peter doocy is live at the white house with more. and, peter, what's it going to take for the white house to say in fact assad has crossed the red line that president obama declared? >> reporter: gregg, the

white house says they want to be 100% sure that this sarin gas they are now confident the syrian government has used was definitely deployed by president assad or by someone in his command and a white house official is telling us any chemical weapons used in syria was very likely originated with the assad regime but that the intelligence so far is based on a mosaic of information. so they want to prove the chain of custody before taking any further action and here's why. a white house official says given our own history with intelligence assessments including intelligence assessments related to weapons of mass destruction it's very important that we are able to establish this with certainty and we're able to present information that is airtight in a public and credible fashion to underpin all of our decisio decision-making. we know that president obama has now ordered his staff to come up with a full range of options for him to consider if the time comes that nonlethal aid to the syrian

opposition is no longer enough. gregg. gregg: of course that quote, not so veiled reference to the predecessor but look, peter, how is the u.s. hoping to prove that assad used sarin gas? i suppose one of the ways would be tissue samples? >> reporter: well, right now they're hoping that the united nations can help them out with some intelligence because they say the u.n. is cry they have good access. if that doesn't end up working out, we're hearing from the white house they will rely on our allies and maybe some of the syrian opposition to gather intelligence and to gather evidence. but, senator john mccain up the street at the capitol is already saying that the time has come, the time has finally come and perhaps it is long overdue for president obama to establish a no-fly zone over syria. >> hope that this new revelation of chemical weapons will move the president to do what he should have done two years ago, from the statement

that's coming out of the white house, i'm not sure they will. >> reporter: and today president obama will meet here at the white house in the oval office with the king abdullah of jordan as he continues consulting world leaders about this very troubling new intelligence out of syria. gregg? gregg: peter doocy, live at the white house. peter, thanks very much. martha. martha: we are getting a new snapshot of our economy this morning. we got word it expanded at an annual rate of 2 1/2% in the first quarter for the gdp. much of that gain is attributed to a jump in consumer spending but the number is a bit smaller than economists had expected for this quarter. stuart varney, anchor of "varney & company" on fox business network joins me now. stuart, good morning to you. what do you think of this morning? >> sounds good. that's the headline. sounds good but it's not. late last year the economy was growing barely. now we've got a 2 1/2% annualized growth. it sounds good but it really is not.

in fact, this may be the high point for the entire year. this may be as good as it gets because all kinds of tax increases are beginning to bite. we have the social security tax increase january the 1st. tax the rich, january the 1st. state taxes went up notably in california. then we've got the sequester cuts. all of this is taking money out of the economy and it will reduce the growth rate for the rest of the year. economists are basically saying our spring hopes have been dashed yet again. third year in a row. not good numbers today. martha: what's the market reaction likely to be to this? and you know, is it a sign because no doubt the administration will feel pretty good about this number and they will have an argument that it is a part of a real recovery. that we just have to be patient. that some of the numbers are improving. the housing numbers are improving. that's my guess that is what they would likely say in response. >> two points. you asked how the market

will react? the market will say this is not a very good report so ben bernanke will keep on printing from the. gregg: there is big news from the snack aisle, twinkies are back. twinkies are expected to hit store shelves this summer without union workers that once made them. new owners say they will reopen a factory in columbus, georgia. they will hire 200 workers

to resume production. 100 jobs will follow. guess what, stu, ding dongs and hos-hos. making a huge come back. get out the straw and stick it in them and suck out the cream. martha: i had a twinkie in my "partridge family" lunch box almost every day, stuart. i don't think you had that growing up in london. >> no, we didn't, that's true. what do you want me to react, martha and gregg? you want me to react to ho-hos and ding-dongs or no unions in the new company. gregg: whatever you feel comfortable with, stu? >> in the old days the twinkie company was brought down by unionization and competing unions. they often had to send two trucks to the same destination of because of competing unions. enough of that, we will make a profit. we'll deliver a product at a competitive price because we're taking away the unions. that's where we stand. martha: well, get yourself a low-fat twinkie. think they're making low-fat

twinkies now. i'm waiting for the gluten-free twinkie. gregg: they have low-fat spam which is among my favorites. >> gregg? gregg: yeah. >> in postwar world war ii britain i was born and raised on spam. i want you to know that. gregg: that is the way i got through school. martha: find it in the grocery aisle these days, stuart. >> no comment. gregg: you could get a can of spam for 28 cents. it was fabulous. >> more on that later. gregg: starving students. spam and rice. that's what i lived on for years. martha: it work, right? gregg: fills you up. martha: sticks to the ribs. we're getting started here this morning, spam, twinkies, all kinds of stuff going on. we also have a very stunning report back in this which is of course the biggest story of this week saying u.s. counterterrorism task force was alerted when you older boston bombing suspect returned from the united states after that trip to russia. so what happened and who dropped the ball in letting folks know that he was back in the country? in moments we'll talk

with all about all of that with the nation's first homeland security secretary, tom ridge joins us moments away. gregg: and new flood warnings in effect right now. we'll tell you where and why folks who live near the water may have something else to worry about. martha: and the u.s. now believes that syria has used chemical weapons. this was confirmed yesterday. and that they have used them against their own people in two likely instances. president obama has said in the past, if that were to happen, that would be a game-changer. so how does the game change now? >> i worry that the president and the administration will use these caveats as an excuse not to act right away or act at all. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness? by the armful? by the barrelful? e carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight.

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martha: there's a bombshell new report that says that a u.s. counterterrorism task force received a warning that tamerlan tsarnaev had

returned from his six-month trip to russia. "the washington post" reporting today that the information was then given to a single official at the u.s customs & border protection agency at boston's logan airport. so he is the one individual that seems to be identified who knew that tamerlan was indeed back in the country at that point. we are joined now, very glad to be joined now by former pennsylvania governor tom ridge who was our nation's first homeland security secretary after september 11th and helped put so much of this infrastructure in place. sir, good morning. always good to have you with us, governor. >> thank you, martha. nice to join us you. martha: what goes through your mind that unidentified customs officer was provided information that he had returned to the country? >> a couple of things go through my mind. there is a warning system called techs. i suspect he was given information through this device. the what information did he

have when he took a look at this individual's name? was he aware of the fact the fbi had previously been alerted by russian authorities and had done their own preliminary investigation and chosen not to pursue it further? there is a narrative that has a lot of unanswered questions. did the cia and the fbi talk to one another? at one point in time, of course the cia couldn't do it but did the fbi think about using a fisa warrant to look perhaps at some of his phone records or tracing some of his conversations electronically? before we rush to judgment i think there is a lot of legitimate questions need to be asked and answered but i think it is a little premature to point the finger just at that customs and border protection agent. martha: it is highly possible that he didn't have sort of the structure to, you know, wasn't told, sort of how to go about coordinating all of this, right? >> i think --. martha: go ahead. >> no, i think we'll learn a lot but not just the name. normally there is

information associated with the name. martha: right. >> i think you go back, there are broader questions here. you say to yourself, how frequently did the russians call the fbi and the cia? we don't agree on very much these days. so if it is an infrequent phone call you wonder why we don't more even without the cooperation of the russian authorities. so you have many, many questions to be answered and frankly instead of fingerpointing in this town someone should do a deep dive quickly to make sure this doesn't happen again. martha: after 9/11 we had the department of homeland security created. the dni, the director of national intelligence. the whole reason for appointing a dni so we would make sure all the agencies are talking to each other. i understand there are ongoing investigations, sometimes they don't want to share things. >> right. martha: they say listen, if anyone crosses tamerlan tsarnaev we can't tell you why but you need to let us know immediately? doesn't that seem like the most basic thing that would happen? >> it is a fair question in light of the fact that the

russian authorities contacted both the cia and the fbi. that in and of itself, one would think, would be an alert that they would keep their eyes on him regardless of whether or not the rush schuss -- russians gave them any legitimate information that is a legitimate question and right now there doesn't seem to be any satisfactory answer. you could have all the databases you want, all the information you have i want but it takes making good judgement. it may have been in that context the russians may have called us. i don't know for a fact. i doubt if we get a lot of information from the russians about potential terrorists in the united states. that may not be an area of great cooperation because frankly in the world of u.s.-russian relationships right now there aren't too many areas of cooperation. so that in and of itself would raise a red flag to me. martha: you almost get the feeling folks say rush insurance were happening on their over turf and they were afraid of the guy for their own reasons and didn't

set off enough red flags for our guys. we know how hard many people work. certainly not to take away anything from that. i'm curious if you're frustrated as the first head of the department of homeland security and all the controversy went into the patriot act being l being able to tap into somebody's cell phone, watch what they're doing on line. this guy was in the right age range. he was putting jihadist videos on line. traveling back and forth to a very dangerous hotbed of terrorism. why on earth would he not have fit absolutely every single alarm bell that went off in the system we created? >> you raised a common sense threshold that one would think would have triggered more extensive investigation. again not necessarily by the department of homeland security. they're only, they are consumer of information. i tried to explain to people that over the past 10 years they don't have their own intelligence capabilities. martha: right. >> it is up to the law enforcement community to take advantage of the patriot act, fisa and

investigative tools of that nature. so it remains to be seen whether or not this individual or other individuals in the joint terrorism task force were aware of his travel to and from. right now there is a lot of finger-pointing but there is narrative still be to written @ñ@@@í

gregg: well -- welcome back. we're awaiting a house vote on a plan to ease delays at our nation's all this is coming after the senate approved legislation to stop cost cutting furloughs for air traffic controllers. elizabeth prann is live in washington with more. hi, elizabeth. >> reporter: hi, gregg. in rare form the senate drafting and passing legislation in one day. the bill would alleviate delays millions of folks are feeling at aports across the country t would put an end to crippling furloughs.

with this bill that already passed the senate they would be able to transfer and prioritize mon money to existing problems that need it right away. what does it mean to you and air travelers. smaller airports will stay open and fright controllers will stay on the job. faa reported 863 flights were delayed on wednesday alone. press secretary jay carney says that this does nothing to alleviate the long-term pain of the sequester and it is only a short-term fix. >> congress wants to address specifically the problems caused by the sequester with the faa we would be open to looking at that but that would be a bandaid measure and it would not deal with the many other negative effects of the sequester. >> reporter: but senate lawmakers passed the bill unanimously, many saying legislation would prevent intolerable delays and already punishing an already hurting economy and the

administration should consider this a constructive and immediate solution. >> i just disagree with the president and the administration on that issue because everybody's afraid of politics being such a hype every sensitive. basically you will save some agencies. you will prioritize what is really important to the american public and flying safely, the public flying safely is a high priority. >> reporter: house lawmakers are debating the bill today and could vote on the legislation as early as midday. we'll be watching. gregg, back to you. gregg: elizabeth prann, thank you very much. martha: could it be a possible game-changer in syria's civil war? >> the u.s. intelligence community assesses with some degree of varying confidence that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin. martha: a huge statement yesterday from chuck hagel. we'll discuss whether a red line has now been crossed bringing the u.s. closer to

getting involved in syria's civil war. gregg: and rising floodwaters no match for automatic budget cuts. we'll tell you how those cuts are affecting some pretty vital equipment. >> you think you're okay because they tell you it has crested and everything and right away, within eight hours, overnight, here it was in my house up a-foot deep in the basement. [ male announcer ] let's say you pay your guy around 2% to manage your money. that's not much, you think. except it's 2% every year. go to e-trade and find out how much our advice and guidance costs. spoiler alert: it's low. it's guidance on your terms, not ours. e-trade. less for us. more for you.

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martha: flood warnings are now in effect up and down the mississippi river today and in north dakota and minnesota as melting snow is expected to bring the red river to a major flood stage over the next few days. it comes as we learn that the feds will shut down hundreds of flood gauges nationwide. they're blaming that on recent budget cuts. these gauges help predict and monitor the flood levels. the feds are quit to point out they won't take gauges out of service currently monitoring heavy flooding ongoing in the midwest. well, that's good. >> a red line for us is, we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. that would change my calculus. that would change my equation. i have made clear the use of chemical weapons is a game-changer. gregg: what does that mean, game-changer, red line? that was president obama back in august. and then last month, and now

his words may actually be put to the test as the white house confirms syria has indeed used chemical weapons in its civil war. two leading republican senators saying that a turning point has been reached. >> the president of the united states said that if the bashar assad used chemical weapons, it would be a game-changer. that it would cross a red line. i think it is pretty obvious that red line has been crossed. >> when you talk to the syrian opposition, they will tell you 100% from their point of view they have been, assad has used chemical weapons against their people. i think the red line has been crossed and the question is now what? gregg: retired four-star general jack keane is a former vice chief of staff of the army and a fox news military analyst. always a pleasure to have you with us. >> good to be, here, gregg. gregg: britain, france, israel say there is absolute proof they have used chemical weapons on their own people, assad has. mccain held up the document that says the u.s. is

admitting it yet the white house is waffling on this is the u.s. obligated to intervene and what does that entail? >> well it is a nightmare scenario from this white house. they have done everything they can to avoid consequential involvement in syria last two years and we've all seen that. he issued a red line. he did that obviously so that assad would not escalate the war. it appears that he has. and a nightmare for the white house is there is not overwhelming evidence of thousands of people in the street, obviously manifesting the symptoms of what took place. this is a small scale military operationp that was used. they do have some evidence of it. obviously the white house has admitted that. they are going to be reluctant in my view to take any action. gregg: right. >> they mainly don't want to be involved. i think they will use the u.n. to investigate it and be very cautious to a fault about doing anything at least in the near term. gregg: this is what one columnist wrote. we'll put up own the screen. obama finds himself where

every if the of last 20 years said something uncompromising he must stand behind or risk having his words seem empty and resolve of the united states seem nonexistent. the trouble with making a declarative red line statement as the president did, if somebody steps over the line you got to act. otherwise, you're regarded as empty and vaccuous. >> more specifically in the legitimate sense he would legitimate the use of chemical weapons if he fails to take any action here. that is really the issue at heart. so we'll see. i mean you asked about the options. i mean on the military side --. gregg: no-fly zone? >> well, first you could seize the sites. that is a lot of troops while the war is going on. after the war is going on, not as many troops. no-fly zone. that involves missiles and air power to shut down their defense systems and to take down their airfields and their airplanes. safe zone up in the northwest is another option. less military option

involved but nonetheless direct intervention by u.s. and nato forces. and then the one that people have been trying to get the obama administration to do to include his own national security team. mrs. clinton, panetta, petraeus and dempsey, all advocated to provide lethal aid to the rebels. that has not been done. that may be done this time. gregg: you said seize the sites. a, do we know the sites, and b, i would assume those sites are protected and thus you're talking about armed combat to seize those sites, american soldiers at risk? >> yeah, absolutely. that is the least likely option to be used. we could also bomb the sites. the problem with that is, --. gregg: you release chemicals. >> right. and you have collateral damage to civilians. you could do it in a limited sense where you have some assurances there would not be any issues for civilians but you're not going to deal with the whole problem. i do not believe they would do anything with the chemical sites in the near term unless this happened,

gregg, there was large-scale use of chemical weapons and that is not the case we have here. large-scale use, thousands of people injured, we would go after those sites. gregg: watching all of this unfold and what the u.s. does or doesn't do is iran, the ally and benefactor of syria. so if the u.s. does nothing, is that a green light in some ways for tehran and its nuclear weapons program? >> well the entire region to include iranians believe that the united states as a matter of policy is pulling back from the middle east. and it is being very passive and disengaged, the evidence, leaving iraq. no action, follow-up in benghazi is another case in point and not intervening on behalf of moderate rebels in syria was the third case in point. now we have the use of chemical weapons and a red line. we'll see what the president does with it. gregg: general jack keane, thanks very much. >> good seeing you, gregg. gregg: all right. martha? martha: well republican lawmaker looking to overhaul the asylum process as we're

learning more about the accused boston bombers, their past and how their family entered the united states. gregg: plus major controversy over textbooks in one american high school. wait until you hear why parents are so outraged. great first gig! let's go! party! awwwww... arigato!

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gregg: well the oldest living former major leaguer may be out of baseball these days but in the gail of life he is doing just fine or so

we hear. he pitched for the washington senators back in the 1950s. he was only 5'5" inches tall. he is celebrating his 102nd birthday. he is enjoying his birthday with his family in havana. there he is with a nice big ol' cuban stogie. wearing a baseball cap. we hear he is still a huge fan of the game. who says cigars are bad for you. look at that. martha: back to washington now where a top republican lawmaker is considering changing the way that the u.s. grants asylum to immigrants, in light of the boston terror attack. as we know the suspects are ethnic chechen brothers from russia who came to the united states about a decade ago with their parents. their family was granted asylum and all the benefits that come along with that category of asylum. joined by mary katharine ham, editor-at-large of hotair.com and fox news contributor. and peter mirijanian former

advisor to the clinton-gore campaign and gore-lieberman campaign. we're always going back to some issue based on the horrific attack that happened. we learn the family came in and they got asylum. i don't understand how you get asylum and come back and forth freely to the country you needed to get asylum from, peter? >> martha, you raise a very good point. this is individual case of a family up having through the cracks in the asylum process. it would be a msha if we looked at this particular case and somehow derail the overall immigration effort where you have republican and democratic senators really standing firm in the wake of a lot of concerns raised about border security and now we hear about asylum. , i'm cautiously optimistic something will be resolved in the legislation to address this but i would be fearful that, you know,

you throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak. martha: but the bath water is very large. the bath is huge is one issue i see, mary catherine. one of the thing that distresses me, whenever we go into something like this, you realize how many holes there are all over the system from the tsa to the asylum system. then you hear people, who appear to be very well-meaning who, aren't allowed to stay in this country and want very much to become citizens and they get booted out. but for some reason somebody like this guy is able to travel back and forth from chechnya, potentially picking up bomb training along the way, that remains to be seen while his family is getting benefits in the state of massachusetts. >> right, understandably gets on people's nerves. this is hugely complex system. i think the congress understandably has a little bit of a competence reputation problem with the american people in understanding and making the system work better. what i do think it is not a great idea to govern based

on crisis. you don't always make the greatest decisions. i also think you shouldn't just say no we're not going to talk about any of those things to spare the entire immigration bill, we're not sure what is in it, we're not sure what it is going to look like. if problems are brought up, for the fact that this put 11 million people who could travel back and forth legally if there is any problem, figure out where the tsarnaevs are and where they're not. certainly not are all dangerous but we need to figure out how we're figuring that out. that is fair question to ask. the asylum issue i'm not sure you would have caught these twice. they were children when they came. this process happened later. the question how he was able to travel back and forth unnoticed from the place he got asylum from is different issue. we can discuss this in the immigration bill. martha: asylum doesn't have anything to do with catching them. that is a connect the dots

issue with the intelligence issues and there is gaping hole here. to not admit there were clearly mistakes made. that the agencies all these years late remember still not talking to each other. we developed a department of national intelligence whose aim was to talk to each other is failing. is that a fair statement? >> that is a fair statement. we're all in agreement here. i think the concern is that there are, there are forces here in washington that are going to use the asylum case to derail the overall effort or to derail immigration. i'm not arguing that we should not address it. i'm not worried, i'm not arguing that we shouldn't consider it in the bill. i mean border security was the hot issue before boston. once boston hit, now this has become the issue. and as i said i'm confident because you have business and labor groups and you have republicans and democrats really wanting to get this done. i think it is a legitimate question, a legitimate issue. you're right, martha. these agencies should be talking to each other in the wake of 9/11. these people shouldn't have slipped through the cracks

but there is way to address it without saying this calls into question the overall scheme of immigration reform and how to treat people with asylum. martha: i agree but i think the border security issue as you rightly point out was front and center before the boston issue and asylum issue are very much connected. mary catherine, maybe what we have here is bloated bureaucracy who gets in and who gets out and how large the agencies are and how completely inefficient in some ways they appear to be, maybe that is a very right thing to handle in this immigration bill? >> that is the number one obstacle to me with immigration reform getting over the public's disbelief that the federal government actually does things they problem miss to do in the system. entry exit system they will track people, they have been promised that for 17 years. there was a law they're supposed to do it and now we'll create another law. that is the main obstacle in this discussion where security breaches is highlighted part of holding

them to that. martha: part of this is a pc problem, peter. i mean, everybody gets treated the same. little old ladies and you know, people who have medical conditions are, filing suits against the government because they're getting pulled out of line and frisked and in demeaning ways right? then you've got this person who comes here on asylum going back to the country he got asylum and he gets in and out and he is a on a watch list. what the heck is going on? >> i will try to get us to all agree on the second point which is if you look at the department of homeland security and look at their budgets and contracts entities have with the department of homeland security and look under the hood you see a lot of waste wand fraud and mismanagement there throwing money at a problem even if it is national secur always the answer. as you said, martha, it is coordination. everybody has to be talking to each other and there has to be seamless operation. >> i don't think i ever agreed with peter more. martha: good. we'll leave on that note. >> that's a good note.

martha: thanks very much, peter, thanks mary catherine. see you guys soon. gregg: a rare moment. mark it on your calendar. growing outrage of textbooks in one school district. accusations that high school students are getting unfair and biased look at the middle east. martha: a battle over online shopping. how uncle sam is looking to collect on your purchases. ♪ .

martha: from patrolling the streets to delivering babies, a highway motorcycle, hawaii motorcycle cop she said helped to deliver a baby on the freeway, not ones but twice. he says the woman went into

labor trying to make it to the hospital. they hit some heavy traffic. >> the dad pulled up right behind us in his pickup truck and hopped out said, hey i need some help. i don't think we're going to make it to the hospital. my wife is expecting and can you help us out? so we just assisted and like i said, the story had a happy ending. martha: makes it sounds like a piece of cake, right? mom and baby are said to be doing just fine the officer helped deliver a baby last year. perhaps he should make house calls. call the officer. he will come on over and help with the baby. gregg: all right. small town debate grabbing some national headlines. some parents in tennessee are absolutely outraged over a fweeinggraphy textbook being used in high schools they say, some of the text is based, biased against israeli policies. jonathan serrie is live in atlanta with more. jonathan, what's this all about? >> reporter: hi, gregg. well more than 700 public high school students in williamson county, tennessee,

are enrolled in elective college level class on human geography. julie west, whose son is in one of those classes takes issue with the state-approved textbook for the class handles certain controversial issues such as terrorism. according to the book, quote, distinguishing terrorism from other acts of political violence can be difficult. for example if a palestinian suicide bomber kills several dozen israeli teenagers in a jerusalem restaurant is that an act of terrorism or war-time retaliation against israeli government policies and army actions? >> not okay to ask children things like that, to put those ideas in their heads and not expect there to be a consequence down the road. >> reporter: textbook author, james rubenstein argues, that quote needs to be taken in context of the entire paragraph which goes on to explain that, quote, competing arguments are made. israel sympathizers denounce the acts as a terrorist threat to the country's existence where as advocates

of the palestinian cause argue that longstanding injust is and israeli army attacks on ordinary palestinian civilians provoked the act. the author tells fox news it is important to understand why terrorists attack but that understanding is not the same thing as justifying these attacks, gregg? gregg: jonathan serrie, in atlanta. jonathan, thanks very much. martha: in the aftermath of the boston bombings one former bush administration official says the threat of jihad getting worse here at home he believes and he is here to explain. gregg: and dramatic new details from the man who says he was carjacked by the accused boston bombers. we'll tell you what he is saying about them and that 9 -minute ordeal when he thought he would certainly die used a contractor before and didn't know where to start. at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list,

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martha: fox news alert. u.s. marshals are moving the surviving boston terror suspect to a federal prison hospital and that is going on earlier this morning. welcome to a brand new hour now of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. that news coming as the blame game begins to heat up on capitol hill. u.s. officials putting in the other suspect, tamerlan tsarnaev, on a watch list 18 months before he and his brother allegedly bombed the boston marathon. lawmakers now want to know how he managed to slip through the cracks. martha: it is the big emerging question this morning. i'm joined by chris wallace,

anchor of "fox news sunday." chris, in the beginning of course everybody on capitol hill was hesitant to point blame to figure out if someone had slipped through the cracks and whose fault it might be we're hearing a barrage of criticism from a number of big names on capitol hill who want to know how this could have been missed? >> more than pointing fingers or assigning blame. it is because we want to get better. martha: right. >> you can't say for 100% certainty we could have prevented bombing but we might have been able to. of course the fact that russia had alerted fbi, had alerted the cia about their concerns about the brother tamerlan. both agencies investigated and couldn't find anything. the system worked to the degree we found out he was leaving the country. janet napolitano head of homeland security, that the system pinged and there was an alert when he left the country and went to russia. gee, if the russians were talking about the ties to

russian terrorism, going to russia would be seem to be a more of a red flag but there doesn't seem to be any particular red flag that went off when he returned after six months in russia. there is story in "washington post", one single customs officer who was part of a joint terrorism task force in boston was alerted to this you about no sign he alerted to this and shared it with anybody else. in any case he was not actively surveiled when he came back in july of 2012 and we know what happened in april of 2013. you can't say for certain they would have prevented the bombing but doesn't seem the information sharing thought we had the reform that happened after 9/11 is still in place and working as well as it should. martha: to me, that is precisely the biggest point here. look at everything that was put in place after 2011 and you talk about the patriot act and department of national intelligence which is supposed to be the central agency created solely for the purpose of connecting the dots and i think there is very legitimate questionsed

rais, whether or not the things we look around us, tsa, are all these things just for show or do they catch somebody who clearly fit so many of the measures that we would be looking for? >> i mean, you don't want to overstate, martha because i think the answer is the system works very well most of the time. and as president bush said over these last couple of days at his presidential library, we have to be right and effective 100% of the time. they only have to be effective 1% of the time. there have been an awful lot of threats rolled up because of, intelligence-sharing. because of informants who have gotten into these terrorist cells but certainly doesn't seem to have worked in this case. and you know, the one, perhaps silver lining of a terrible week up in boston may be the fact this will get people re-energized and get us to share intelligence and more effectively. we'll be talking on sunday to mike mccaul, the chairman of homeland security committee in the house. he is one of those people

talking about who was reluctant at first to get into it and very concerned and very outspoken on a host of levels about the sophistication of this cell. he believes there was some outside help. that they, that the tsarnaev brothers could not have built this bomb without outside help. there is also question the fact that the dzhokar, the younger brother was only interrogated for 16 hours before he was read his miranda rights. there are a whole host of questions how we deal with potential and real terrorists and we'll talk about that with mike mccall on sunday. martha: we will look forward to that. obviously the big question, why they wouldn't have used the 48 hours they claim they had at their disposal by enacting that exemption. i know that big question and you will be talking about this weekend. chris, thank you very much. we'll see you sunday. everybody at home tune into "fox news sunday" this weekend. critas he said will talk about the boston bombings and homeland security, big, big issues that face our

country in the wake of boston. texas senator -- joe manchin and mike mccall looks like a great show. check out your listings. gregg: two ex-most -- explosions governor at at boston marathon. the next day the associated press says the bombs were made out of pressure cookers. april 18th they release foes he is of the two suspects. then friday morning, a shootout with police, tamerlan tsarnaev is killed. his 19-year-old brother dzhokar, later arrested that same day. martha: a new honor for the mit police officer who was murdered during the boston manhunt. the summerville, massachusetts, police department is posthumously naming sean collier a member of the force. his family says this honor fulfills a lifelong dream of him.

>> he wanted to be a somerville cop. that is all he wanted. >> he loves this community and wanted to be a part of protecting it and serving it and being a police officer. >> not like there is any break in service. as far as we're concerned he has been with us. even in death he is with us. >> my hope the police officers that new sean, what sean brought to our police department, that they take those qualities and attributes and they make themselves better police officers. martha: he was clearly loved in that police department. you hear such warm comments about him and what a loss. he started his career as an intern with the somerville police department and served as an auxiliary officer. he also worked there as a civilian employee and he will be very missed that young man. gregg: it was his dream to be a police officer. he fulfilled it and good for them for including him. martha: absolutely. gregg: a mississippi man whose me was searched in connection with the poison letters sent to president obama and others has gone

into hiding now. everett, his friend says he is staying at secret location to escape the media spotlight but the his attorney says the 45-year-old is cooperating with the fbi. they know how to get in touch with him. letters containing ricin sent to the president and mississippi senator roger wiast week and, he has not been charged in the case. martha: well, president obama joined thousands of mourners paying tribute to those killed in the texas fertilizer plant explosion. 14 people died, most of them were first-responders. thousands of people filled baylor university sports arena to pay tribute. president obama told the crowd that the whole country feels their pain. >> to the families, and neighbors grappling with unbearable loss, we are here to say you are not alone. you are not forgotten.

we may not all live here in texas but we're neighbors too [applause] we're americans too. and we stand with you and we do not forget. martha: investigators say they still don't know what caused that enormous blast. it took out a middle school, a nursing home, an apartment complex and several homes along with those lives lost sadly in west, texas. gregg: well the national weather service now issuing a new flood warning for missouri but as winter snow starts to melt well there are several states bracing for what could be severe flooding. meteorologist maria molina is live in the fox news extreme weather center. hi, maria. >> gregg, good to see you and hello, everyone. that's right we're talking about flooding ongoing in parts of the mississippi river so there are a number of flood warnings in effect across several states. not just missouri but including parts of illinois and parts of indiana.

when you have flooding along one section of the mississippi river you have to watch areas downstream for possible flooding down here as we head into the next several days. a number of flood advisories have been issued across parts of the state of mississippi, arkansas and even all the way down into sections of louisiana. we're talking a very widespread area along the mississippi river that could deal with flooding. we have a storm system moving on through and could dump up to two inches of rain out here across parts of the mississippi river, that do have flood warnings in effect. not good news. we don't need anymore rain out here. that is exactly what we're looking at. another big concern into the weekend and early next week a significant warm-up that will occur across parts of the midwest. for most of you this is welcome news. you will finally see temperatures into the 70s. in north dakota along the red river and city of fargo you're talking significant snow melt that can occur and by early next week, monday, tuesday, into wednesday we're going to see the red river rising and major flooding is forecast.

we'll watch this very closely. back to you, gregg. gregg: maria molina thanks very much. >> thank you. gregg: martha? martha: next week will mark two years since a team of navy seals took out usama bin laden. hard to believe it has been two years but if the bombings in boston are any reminder the bad guys are still not giving up wanting to strike america. >> this wasn't inspired by jihadists overseas. when you look at videos, and much less the travel that he made to russia which we want to find out more about. martha: what he believes is the big takeaway in the boston terror attack. gregg: and the carjacking of his car triggering the final hours of the manhunt for the boston bombing suspects. what he is saying now about his harrowing ordeal and why he thinks he survived it all. martha: and a big development for the push to build the keystone pipeline. a key hurdle that if passed in congress as congressional leaders point out the pipeline's importance.

>> the keystone pipeline is critically important for our energy supply. america is about to enjoy, or north america about to enjoy energy independence here in the next seven, eight years. this is going to give our country a great advantage when it comes to manufacturing more goods here in america and exporting them around the world.

martha: sad news today on a story we brought to you a couple months ago first. the body of a brown university student who disappeared last month has been found. police say that sue kneel tripathi a he is body was found by members of the school's crew team in the waters off of proved dense, rhode island on tuesday. the 22-year-old was taking a leave of absence from brown when he last was seen on march 16th. his mother admits his son was suffering from depression but she says she believes he was handling it.

gregg: well the investigation into the boston terror attack, much has focused on where or the suspect the bombers were radicalized but our next guest believes that no matter the answer, one of the important takeways from boston is that the global militant islamist movement is in his words, alive, kicking and killing. peter brookes, senior fellow for national security affairs at the heritage foundation joins us now. peter, good to see you. you write, in fact, time to wake up and smell the jihad. what do you mean? >> yeah. well, i was looking at beyond boston, the terrible tragedy up there and i did a quick search online of just news items and just, taking a number of things, i found that over the last two weeks there have been tens of attacks or plots around the world, in some 10 countries on four continents, killing 3 to 400 people. i mean, gregg, in iraq, in one single day there were 25

separate bombings. in pakistan in one day there were eight separate bombings. gregg: yeah. >> in libya there was an attack on the french embassy. so this is, we need to pay attention to what is going on. we're in the post-usama bin laden era but we're not in the post terrorism or post-al qaeda era. gregg: so when president obama claims as he did on the campaign trail early and often, quote, al qaeda is on the path to defeat, is he mistaken? is he naive? is he in denial? >> i can't channel the president but i believe he was talking about al qaeda's core, those that were involved in 9/11 but, you know the ones that went to pakistan, the ones that tried to find refuge in afghanistan but we've seen them throughout the world now. north africa, europe, there was a plot in spain the other day, perhaps targeting the madrid marathon. the canadians found a plot targeting a train. i mean this is a global effort here against us and

my view is, gregg, complacency is a killer. gregg: well, i wonder if there is a mentality that is pervasive in the administration in which they are very reluctant to name things acts of terrorism, although they certainly did so immediately in boston. for example, they're quick to use the terms lone wolf, self-radicalized, bin laden is dead, gm is alive. to this day they refuse to declare the fort hood shooting anymore than a work place act of violence. >> yeah, i mean this is, this is wrong and you think they learned a lesson from benghazi which they took a lot of heat from because of how they characterized it, characterized it early on. we need, we need to understand the reality that we're facing. america is in the cross-hairs and putting our head in the sand is a very bad idea. i mean the administration,

any sort of thing that would make them look weak on national security, or weak on terrorism runs counter to the narrative they have tried to portray as this president, as the person who brought usama bin laden to justice but there's real challenges out there and this al qaeda and militant islamist movement is spreading. you know, syria, gregg, is a mess. in fact there's a possibility of an islamist state there. the terrorist groups are staking out territory and that could be a real trouble for our interests in the middle east. gregg: so bottom line, peter, and it's not good news, the plots against america continue, the ideology which motivates these terrorists has not died out, and indeed just the opposite, it seems to be expanding? >> and it's probably and it is transnational as well as we may discover from boston as the facts are revealed about that terrible tragedy up there. gregg: all right. peter brookes, thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me.

martha: well, if you're one of the millions of americans who likes to shop online once a while you may be paying a little bit extra for that it turns out as a nationwide internet sales tax moves to a little bit closer to reality. the senate voting to advance that bill, but the battle is far from over. gregg: football history being made as the canssy chiefs -- kansas city chiefs central michigan offensive tackle, eric fisher as the first overall pick. jacksonville took a offensive tackle as their pick at number two. first time since 1970. you nye this, martha, that defensive tackles went one and two in the draft. you've been following. >> glad you're paying attention. gregg: trying to.

gregg: fox news alert. a symbol of traditional country music and country music hall-of-famer george jones has died at the age of 81. he was being treated at vanderbilt medical university for high brood pressure and fever and he had an amazing career. more than 150 albums. he had number one hits in five separate decades. george jones, dead at the age of 81. martha: back to this one now. the senate is voting to advance a bill that could tax just about everything you buy on the internet. another way to get more money in the coffers. it would level the playing field for local retailers to need to collect the tax. fox business's liz macdonald joins us. good morning, liz. >> good morning, martha. martha: what is this about?

>> reporter: for the first time there would be a an internet sales tax. the way it would work if you buy a good or a product on the internet, the person who was selling you that, the company that is selling you that, even if it is a little guy on ebay, would have to collect the sales tax and then send it back to the state where you live. so this is really, not only confusing but it's talked about as being onerous for the little guy who has a business on ebay. that certain or individual, that shop owner on the web would have then send taxes to the 9600 different taxing authorities in this country. it is not just states. it is also local governments that can collect a sales tax too, martha? martha: wow! i mean, clearly so much commerce is done over the internet now. is this a reflection of the fact that the feds feel that they're missing out on a lot of that money and they want to find a way to tap into it? >> that's right. web sales have estimates of $225 billion annually in internet sales but then when

the figures come down to what the sales tax actually would collect in revenues i'm seeing only figures of around $11 billion to $15 billion. it depends on the rate of sales tax. but you can imagine, martha, that sales tax could likely go up if the internet sales tax is enacted. there is a move afoot to exempt companies on, places like ebay where they only have a one million dollars or less in annual gross sales. but there's a fairness issue here and it's a big one. and that is, the brick-and-mortar shops in those states, they don't have to go sending taxes willy-nilly to other states or localities across the country. this is being fought politically by the fact that the, new faa bill to stop the furloughs would be, could be staff attached to the internet sales tax bill meaning the internet sales tax is likely to become a reality, martha. martha: i wonder if there is a larger economic risk here as well? we just had gdp come in this

morning a lot was attributed to consumer spending. we're seeing taxes go in some parts of people's lives still you can canning in, does it work as just another measure that could cool off the economy? >> that is an important question because it is that and also jobs. i mean already hearing, this will be a jobs killer because if you push through this internet tax, the guys who, the entrepreneurs laid off at their other job, trying to make do, by, having a business online, they're not going to be able hire. they will have to lay off people in order to comply with the various 9600 localities that will be collecting this sales tax. and i'll tell you something, it is not just that. they will have to abide by the tax collectors in those states and local governments as well. it is proving to be possibly really onerous and unfair especially if you live in a state or operating a business in a state that has no sales tax. rather than collecting it

and sending it out to places like california or illinois yeah. martha: liz, thank you. good to see you. >> same here. gregg: a man carjacked by the boston bombings suspect speaks out for the first time what he is saying about his harrowing night and how he escaped clutches of two terrorist suspects. martha: brand new details on the brother's alleged plan to target new york city with their remaining bombs just days after the boston marathon. attack. new york city congressman peter king joins us next. >> he told the fbi apparently that he and his brother had intended to drive to new york and designate additional explosives in times square. -- detonate additional explosives in times squares. we know they had the explosives and they had the capacity to carry out the attacks. [ man ] excuse me miss. [ gasps ] this fiber one 90 calorie brownie

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martha: we are now haoerpbg that the boston bombing suspects made a spontaneous decision in the car that night to go to new york city and possibly set off the left over explosives that they had and they wanted to do that perhaps right in times square according to some of what they said -- or the younger brother said i should say. this is a 2012 picture taken in times square. it's haupting looking -- haunting looking back at it. of it is dzhokhar tsarnaev enjoying the big apple along with friend. the two terror suspects never

made it out of massachusetts which we now know. the new york police commissioner leig ray kelly said they were ready to do damage. >> they had six improvised explosive devices. one was a pressure cooker bomb similar to the two that had exploded at the marathon. the other five were pipe bombs. martha: it's frightening to think what would happen if a similar scene took place in times square. peter king is the chairman of the subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence. he joins me now. good morning, welcome back. >> good morning. thank you very much. martha: you have a problem with the timeline on when the information was relayed to new york from the fbi, right? >> yes. it appears it was almost 72 hours between the time when the younger brother spoke about an attack on times square and when the fbi notified the nypd. in fact i'm not even sure in it was the fbi that did the note my

indication, it may have been the boston police. to me it's unexcusable. whether or not -- obviously that person in the hospital couldn't carry out the aeu being ta. ther attack tack. there could have been others in position to carry out the attack. they should have been notified to put into effect any defensive measures they have. see if there was any chance of any area in the area being radicalized or part of this movement that could have carried out the attack. it is unexcusable for one law enforcement agency not to tell another on the matter literally of life and death. martha: they are saying, well you know we had him with us, his brother was dead. we knew the threat was not imminent so we didn't pass it along to new york which i imagine would be the logic here. are you concerned about how much stock is being put in exactly what dzhokhar is saying and how much is perhaps not being pursued outside of that?

>> first of all, i don't believe anything he says, but everything he says has to be pursued and checked out. and if he said new york, then new york should have been told. let commissioner kelly and mayor bloomberg decide how to evaluate the information. there could be two, three, four, five other conspiracy tores out there who may want to follow through on the attack and gone to new york when they saw that the younger brother was captured. again, this is really a decision for the new york city police commissioner to make as to how he evaluates the information. twaufrs the fbi's job to give him that information toee to evaluate. martha: no doubt the fbi is talking to everyone. one of them is an imam at a controversial mosque in boston. what do you know about that? >> my understanding is the imam even when the older brother was ejected and thrown out of the mosque the eufpl ma'am did not tell in law enforcement about that. he should have. when a person conducts

themselves and is ejected from as month being, that probably is the right thing to to but that is a precursor to radicalization. i believe he had an obligation to tell local law enforcement about it. whether he's cooperating with the fbi now i'm not certain. i doubt he is. he should have gone to the fbi or the pwos ton police department and told them this. martha: we are looking for holes in the system because we want to learn from what happened here. i think back to the instances where they have tested bringing weapons into the new york city airports and they've got even through, it seems to me, and i don't -- i don't want to knock anybody, because i know everybody is working hard, we hope so, we assume that because we want to assume the best. we are learning about some very serious gaps in what we thought was a decent system after 9/11. >> yeah, you know the system is so large nationally. i think it will have to be refined. you the justice department is going to have to change some of the guidelines for the fbi, allow them to keep

investigations open longer to allow more surveillance. we will see more and more attacks coming from within the country rather than coming overseas through here and that will require much more local intelligence. we should have more police departments going out into the community and being proactive. martha: we are told by janet napolitano that no negative information came forward on tamerlan. they found no negative information on him. he was posting jihaddist-like videos on the web and he engaging in activity that took him to a very dangerous place in russia. how do you put those dots together? >> i would say that -- without going into details there was some negative information that was there. secondly they didn't follow through. i don't think they ever spoke to anybody in his mosque. they never spoke to the imam. martha: why not, dock man king? >> all i can think is political correctness. the nearby talking to swob in a

mosque you're going after their religion. muslims are not violent people pw-r there are people in the community that are violent. that to me is a legitimate question. ask people in the mosque did anybody act strange lee strangely here? does he have radical views? martha: you have tried to pursue this in hearings on domestic terror. you got a lot of heat for it. we will keep talking to you about it. it's a very important topic and we know you are on it. congressman thank you very much. >> thank you, martha. gregg: the driver of the automobile, the suspected boston bombers carjacked speaking about out harrowing ordeal and dramatic escape in an interview with the boston globe. the chinese national who would only give his american nickname,

danny saying this is ordeal began when a man, later identified as tamerlan tsarnaev jumped i to behind car pointing a gun at him. and said in chilling language, don't be stupid, irjust killed applies man. danny goes onto say, quote, i was thinking i must do two things, unfasten my seatbelt and open the door and skwr*ufpl -p oujump out out as quickly as i can. if i didn't make it he would kill me right away. he said i don't want to be a famous person talking opening the tv. i don't feel like a hero, i was trying to save myself. martha: what a sorry, you picture these two guys, eventually they were both in the car with him together, dzhokhar in the back seat, this man tamerlan in the front seat, and danny driving. the conversations he was having. he was trying to downplay how old the car was, he wanted to be

as small and shrink away. he said i'm chinese, we have a great relationship with the muslims. all of that helped to save this guy's life. what a story. gregg: apparently he survived by saying, i'm not american. martha: and was able to really point the finger for the police as to where my car is, my phone is still in there and you can find it. incredible story. gregg: that's right. martha: sad news to report to you this morning. in this fox news alert. country music hall-of-famer george jones has of 81. he had a legendary career that lasted more than 50 years. he started just playing out on a street corner. here is julie banderas with a look back at his amazing life. ♪ [singing] h-frpblgts he was nicknamed ol nicknamed old possum. he was called the greatest country singer alive. jones grew up in beaumont, texas where he sang on the street for

tips. his first number one hit was in 1959 with "white lightning." he and tam lee wynette married in 1969. she was one of his four marriages. they were known as the king and queen of music. they went onto sing many country hits including "we're going to hold 0 on" in 1974. the couple divorced in 76. he battered alcoholism and drug abuse during much of his life. one of his other nicknames was "noshow jones" nor nailing to appear at so many concerts. he later recorded a song by that name. during his 40-year career he recorded more than 150 albums. in 1992 the country music association recognized jones by electing him to the country music hall of fame. and in 2008 george jones was a kennedy center honoree. people say he was to country

singing what sinatra was to the ballads. the country music world has lost a legend. julie banderas fox news. martha: george jones died in nashville after being hospitalized with a fever and irregular blood pressure. he will be missed. gregg: an amazing life. we mentioned it earlier. number one songs in five separate decades. martha: that is remarkable, isn't it? gregg: what a career. martha: absolutely. gregg: amazing. potential big news for the future of the keystone pipeline as a house committee takes up a bill to expedite construction of the oil transport system. we'll tell you what happened and what it may mean for that 1700-mile me up line. 171700-mile pipeline.

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bikes and balloons, and noodles on spoons. a kite, a breeze, a dunk of grilled cheese. catches and throws, and spaghettio's. a wand, some wings, soup with good things. sidewalks and doodles and wholesome noodles. puddles and pails and yes, puppy dog tails. for a lunch like this, there's a hug and a kiss. because that's what happy kids are made of. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

skwraop we are following a terrible tkrapbl deup folding in russia right now. a fire at a psychat particula psychiatric hospital that killed nearly inside. 36 patients. two doctors, three nurses managed to escape can the fire. firefighters took an hour to reach the hospital because they were trying to get there by a local ferry. an awful story.

a preliminary investigation points to an electrical shortcircuit that they believe was the likely cause. gregg: encouraging news now for supporters of that controversial keystone pipeline, the house natural resources committee passing a bill to speed construction of the oil transport system by preventing the obama administration from imposing any further delays, and making it easier to build the 1700-mile pipeline from canada to the united states gulf coast. colorado congressman dog lamborne joins us -- doug. thanks for being with us. you can probably get it passed in the house, what about the senate? >> a majority of senators are on record supporting the pip keystone pipeline. the only person now standing in

the way of it becoming reality or not is president barack obama. that is the only person standing in the way. gregg: ron wyden of oregon says, looks being american consumers likely wouldn't benefit that much in the end, because a lot of the oil would end up being exported. is that true? >> we don't know, there might be some percentage, it might even be a smaller percentage would end up being expoerlted. but this -- exported. this creates 20 to 40,000 immediate construction jobs no matter what. the 800,000 barrels it brings in a day is half of what we bring in my tanker from the middle east each day. it's much more environmentally safer. gregg: there have been not one, not two, but three environmental impact studies, , exhaustive studies that said very limited

environmental impact, and then the environmental protective agency claims that it doesn't have all the information it needs, it needs more information. is that true? >> no, that is merely a stalling tactic. this is the most studied pipeline in history. it's the most tech hropbl technologically advanced pipeline in history. there are people who don't want it no matter what. you can't ever please them. they want perfection, you can't have that in this world. they are contriving excuses. gregg: they are concerned about carbon emissions. isn't it true if you actually end up not building the pipeline, and the oil gets transported by diesel locomotive, that is a greater environmental impact than the pipeline would be? >> oh, that is exactly right. or taking it by truck, or by boat across the pacific to china. that oil will be used one way or another. so environmentalists really have

no leg to stand on. they just don't like where it comes from, they don't like the use of hydrocarbons. they want us to go to wind and solar strictly. that is unrealistic in this world. gregg: in we don't use the fue fuels refracted from the canadian oil sands we'll end up using heavy crude which is environmentally damaging and we'll have to turn more to coal, again more environmentally damaging. >> it makes sense on the environmental front and most of all the 20 to 40,000 immediate jobs and the boosted economy, i don't know why the president doesn't want that. we have a mediocre economy, we need more jobs. this is a bi-partisan way to create more jobs. he should say, yes. gregg: congressman, thank you very much for being with us. >> you're welcome. martha: all right. let's go to jon scott now standing by with a look at what is coming up at the top of the

hour on "happening now." hi, jon. jon: hi, martha. happy friday to you. "wall street journal"'s daniel he in, ninger on some of the ironic similarities between former president george w. bush and his successor president obama. we will compare the busines business malfailures of an electric car company and the government's involvement. and the possible deal on the sequester that could make the airport delays go away. the media's handling of week two of the boston marathon bombing and the commemoration of the george w. bush in texas yesterday. that is all coming up on "happening now." martha: that should be interesting. thank you, jon, we'll see you then. a disturbing act was caught on tape. a boy -- look at this surveillance video, a little boy with a gun. of it looks like it's a gun and he's waving it in a girl's face. we'll tell you what happened here . gregg: plus, the cruise ship industry may have seen its share

of pr disasters lately. stranded ships, no electricity, water, working toilets, what explains, though the booming profits? what makes your family smile? backflips and cartwheels. love, warmth. here, try this. backflips and camm, ok!s. ching! i like the fact that there's lots of different tastes going on. mmmm! breakfast i'm very impressed. this is a great cereal! honey bunches of oats. i hear you crunching.

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gregg: a disturbing videotape out of philadelphia. take a look at this. watch as a little boy later dent need as a ten-year-old could be seen waving what looks like a real gun. it turns out it was a toy gun. she is pointing it at a girl's head and the girl putting up her

hands like she is getting robbed. she was not harmed. the boy turned himself in authorities say. martha: full steam ahead for the cruise independent streep. royal caribbean posting a big jump in profit as carnival spends hundreds of millions of dollars to update their fleet. they've had problems recently. as a result of the try um's difficult times and others. phil keating joins us live. it doesn't seem like this is preventing people from going on cruises. >> reporter: consumer confidence is definitely suffering to an extent. know as severely as people would expect. three ships including the royal caribbean's majesty of the sea are in mort today. 62%. despite the cruise from hell 300 passengers had to be towed to

shore, no power or toilets. that and the deadly crash in italy. they say the recent negative media coverage has been frustrating and yes it's probably impacted us a bit, but no, it's not been a game-changer for our brands. however it has been costly especially for carnival cruise lines pledging to spend $700 million now to upgrade its fleet and its image. for passengers there are steals of deals out there for as little as a hundred dollars a night due to aggressive pricing by the cruise eupd straoe all in a pr effort to keep cruisers cruising. combined with the fact that they are in between spring break and summer. >> it's unfortunate that these things happen. remember these are machines. they are just like airplanes and they do break down. it's a question of what -- how the cruise lines react to these incidents will really play toward public perception and

confidence in the industry. >> reporter: meanwhile in congress that cruise ship bill of rights, similar to the airline bill of rights still getting traction. back to you. martha: they have a few complaints some of them. phil, thank you very much. a beautiful day in miami for phil keating. gregg: it always is a great place. lucky phil. secretary of defense chuck hagel saying there is strong evidence of chemical weapons in syria. we'll talk about it. [ male announcer ] with free package pickup from the united states postal service a small jam maker can ship like a big business. just go online to pay, print and have your packages picked up for free. we'll do the rest. ♪

martha: happy friday. gregg, thank you for being with us today. bill will be back on monday tkpwregdbye everybody. jon: brand-new stories and breaking news. jenna: the surviving suspect in the boston terror attack moved to a prison facility as we get new information of threats to the united states from other extremists as well. fisker is on the verge of going broke. are we looking at the next solyndra? a video is released showing the healed of the s seattle police department caught on tape mocking the homeless. why that is important. that is all "happening now." we start off this friday with new information in the boston terror attacks. we are glad you are with